California Quail

About the California Quail

The California quail (Callipepla californica), also known as the California valley quail or Valley quail, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family, inhabiting western North America. It is the state bird of California.

There are seven recognized subspecies: C. c. californica (Shaw, 1798) – northern Oregon and western Nevada to southern California and Coronado Islands C. c. achrustera (Peters, 1923) – San Lucas California quail – southern Baja California

C. c. brunnescens (Ridgway, 1884) – extreme northern coastal California to southern Santa Cruz County C. c. canfieldae (Van Rossem, 1939) – Owen Valley quail – Owens Valley of east central California C. c. catalinensis (Grinnell, 1906) – Santa Catalina quail – Santa Catalina Island (off southern California)

C. c. orecta (Oberholser, 1932) – Warner Valley quail – Warner Valley in Oregon to extreme northern California C. c. plumbea (Grinnell, 1926) – San Quintin California quail – San Diego County to southern Baja California Their closest relative is Gambel's quail, which has a more southerly distribution and a longer crest at 2.5 in (6.4 cm), a brighter head... Wikipedia →